In logistical mass storage facilities huge number of pallets are stored in high racks, and to inventory is very time-consuming and sometimes impossible during normal operations. It has massive impact on operation and costs in case no actual inventory list is available.
Additionally, pallets are not only stored in high racks but also on tracks, trailers, ships, railway wagons and on construction sites in a compact form, i.e., without any space between the pallets. Thus, it is impossible to walk from pallet to pallet and check manually the palletized goods. Such a two-dimensional compact placement of pallets is commonplace in order to use the available storage capacity to a maximum. This is in contradiction to perform inventory operations at any point in time in order to keep track and control the goods actually stored in/on a plurality of storage elements/pallets.
On the other side, there is a strong requirement to control the availability of goods and raw material at any time even if the pallets below the goods and raw material are positioned in a compact form on a surface, like a high rack, a ship deck, a truck or trailer, any intermediate storage space, a construction site, and so on.
Especially, in case no organizational and technical infrastructure is present—like any place outside a high rack—it is difficult to electronically read out inventory data because the pallets are not accessible due to its compact placement in storage lots, including intermediate storage locations.